What Didn’t Happen

Leave it to the weather to humble plans.

Parades get poured upon. Rain checks get written.

And then there is the flip side. Through the science of weather forecasting, inclimate weather can be predicted. Preparations can be made, and in the case of our island’s recent Tropical Storm Flossie, hyper-diligence can be employed.

Let me preface by saying I have not lived through a hurricane and I am wholeheartedly in favor of responsible action being taken in advance of potentially hazardous weather. The Bohemian and I rounded up the yard’s tiki torches, filled our jugs of water and got the candles and flashlights out on the counter. We have food stores.

But I’ve got to smile when Facebook is all abuzz with links to the latest foreboding news stories, angling an oddly named storm at sea like it was the next blockbuster movie to hit the big screen. Lines form at the gas station and radio stations repeatedly announce the same, heeding, public advisories.

Am I missing something? Didn’t the official advisory say this storm had a 5% chance of becoming a hurricane? And even as news stories went national, reaching the Mainland (and the “just checking in on you guys out there, we saw the news”-type phone calls came in) the center of the storm was breaking up and the projected wind speeds were decreasing.

Does everyone just like a good story? A little drama?

Is it possible that somewhere in our human psyche, we need to be reminded that there is something greater than ourselves? Even if it means the potential devastation of the little world that we’ve created.

The most impact of Flossie (which had been downgraded to a Tropical Depression before bedtime) was supposed to come to our island last night. The Bohemian and I went to bed with ease and woke in the wee hours to the sound of wind and rain. Nothing torrential.

This morning, it’s a little stormy with some wind, but there is sunlight through the clouds. The Central Pacific Hurricane Center has officially posted their last public advisory on the Flossie system. She is now being called a “Post-tropical Remnant Low.”

Maybe some people are coming down from the adrenalin rush of this latest tropical storm watch.

Mahalo Bill. I saw that Facebook had some sunrise posts on the same day, so I wasn’t the only one to catch the dramatic sky colors (that’s my kind of theatrics). Beautiful photos had substituted the storm warning links. Nice! Aloha to you…